PENNINGTON GAP — The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority on Monday finalized a loan package worth up to $240,455 to KCG Call Centers LLC for the company’s intended expansion at its Lee County facility in Pennington Gap. VCEDA and company officials say the loan agreement will help the customer service center to increase employment to 300 within five years. “It is with great pleasure we are here today closing this loan that will assist an existing Lee County business with its expansion plans and growth,” said VCEDA Executive Director Jonathan Belcher during a closing ceremony at the facility. Located at the Patriot Center in Pennington Gap, the KCG Call Center currently employs 111 workers. The company plans to apply the VCEDA loan toward the purchase of equipment and enable the company’s expansion plans. “Right now we are poised to become a larger employer in the area with good, solid, long-term full-time and part-time jobs,” said Paul Kavanaugh, president and chief executive officer of KCG Call Centers. “We have the current contracts and, with some new equipment, the ability to take on additional business.” KCG Call Centers located to Virginia’s e-Region in 2005 as part of the Showcasing Southwest Virginia program engineered by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon. The company initially located in a mini-mall in Pennington Gap and in 2007 relocated to the larger Patriot Center, a facility owned and renovated by the Lee County Industrial Development A u t h o r i t y. Virginia’s e-Region includes Lee, Scott, Wise, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties and the city of Norton.